Christopher Spanos returns to Pekin Grade School District 108 school board

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By Michael Smothersof Gatehouse Media Illinois

Journal Star

By Michael Smothersof Gatehouse Media Illinois

Posted Apr. 21, 2014 at 1:00 AM

By Michael Smothersof Gatehouse Media Illinois

Posted Apr. 21, 2014 at 1:00 AM

PEKIN — The city’s public grade school district board lost no leadership experience when it elected Christopher Spanos as its president last week.

A board member for eight years, Spanos returned to the position he held from 2007-10.

With his election at the board’s April 14 meeting, Spanos replaced Karen Frazier, who served four consecutive one-year terms as president of Pekin Grade School District 108.

Chris Mullis also was chosen to succeed Rich Root as board vice president.

The combined experience of the seven-member board and the district’s administration under Superintendent Bill Link will play an essential role in meeting the district’s challenges over the coming year.

Both Spanos and Frazier cited pending negotiations for a new contract with the district’s teachers’ union at the top of that agenda.

The outcome of those negotiations “will be very important given the tighter times” in district finances, Spanos said.

“Thankfully, we’ve had positive relationships” with the teachers, he said. “They’re all reasonable people” who have earned board members’ respect and appreciation for their work.

The same is true for the district’s administration team, said the new and past board presidents.

Frazier cited the team for its success in two challenges during her tenure, passage of the teachers’ current contract and a multi-million-dollar overhaul of the district’s aging school buildings.

That project was largely financed through a $5 million low-interest loan through the federal Build America Bonds program that the district obtained in 2010.

Building improvements enabled by the loan could no longer be delayed, Frazier said. “It’s not easy sitting in a classroom in 106 degrees” because of faulty air-conditioning systems, she said. Replacement of Jefferson School’s roof this summer will be the last project from the bond program.

The state of district finances, meanwhile, will put more pressure on the board and administration, which has sought to keep class sizes low while maintaining teacher positions.

“In coming years, things may get worse before they get better,” Spanos said. “The goal is to prepare for those (financial) issues ahead of time.”

Declining property values have eroded the district’s tax base while, over the past several years, the number of new students has steadily risen.

“I think the administration has done a wonderful job” of balancing those factors, Spanos said. Part of that job is dealing with consistently late payments of tax revenues owed by the state to the district, he said.

“We were pleasantly surprised to hear the state is only behind by $1 million” in the latest payments due, Spanos said.